Tuesday, January 5, 2016

#98 Acacia Trees and Ants

Gardening is thought of as a skill that requires pretty
advanced intelligence. Humans in the whole history of evolution did not start
to garden until about 10,000BC. [1]

This Proof for God is about the symbiotic relationship
between certain trees and certain types of ants. In particular I want to talk
about the Central and South American Bull-Horn Acacia tree and the Pseudomyrmex
ant, which is a genus of stinging, wasp-like ants.

“Many species of acacia tress that
are deficient in chemical defenses have developed a mutualistic relationship
with stinging ants in which protection is exchanged for nutrients and a
home. Acacia trees and their symbiotic partner can be found all over the
world in temperate, desert, and tropical regions, especially since some species
of acacia trees are highly invasive. They reach sexual maturity typically three
years after germination, and the adult trees can be used for industrial or
decorative purposes. During development, the acacia trees form symbiotic
relationships with ants to promote healthy growth for both the ant and the
tree. Not only are the trees vigorously protected, but they also provide ants
and their larvae a ready home and available nutrients.” [2]

“Ant-plant mutualism is not rare with at least 100 other species of
plants and ants exhibiting this relationship.” [3].

Note that the author of the above quote talks about the
plant and ants as if they are intelligently discussing with each other how they
are going to form a mutually beneficial partnership. How come we humans can’t
form a relationship with a plant if an ant can do it? Or how come we can’t form
a nice relationship with a bunch of ants if a plant can do it?

As I explain below what amazing things scientists have discovered about
this relationship, you will see that the Theory of Evolution has no plausible
explanation for its existence. Even if one such implausible relationship could
have evolved, how could 100 totally distinct and unique types of plant to ant relationships
evolve without any connection to each other?

An important point to make in the beginning is that the Bull-Horn Acacia tree cannot survive without the help of the ants. In experiments where the ants were taken off the tree, the tree died within two to fifteen months. “In studying this amazing relationship, researchers removed the ants from some of these trees. Within two to fifteen months the tree was dead. Without the ants' care, animals eat off all the leaves and surrounding plants overrun it.” [4]

So without help from the ants, there could not be any
Bull-Horn Acacia trees. So how could the trees ever have evolved without the
ants already there to take care of them? But how did the ants learn how to take
care of these particular trees before the trees existed? Gardening the trees
would have to have evolved too. It would take a long process of learning for
the ants, if ants can even learn like that. Taking care of the Acacia trees is
very, very complicated as we shall see.

In this symbiotic relationship, let’s look first at what the
Acacia tree does for the ants. There is a lot of the trademark of intelligence
here and if you don’t accept that there is a God, then you have to think it is
the tree that has intelligence or else it is just some accidental process.

“The mutualistic relationship is
established when a newly mated queen is attracted to a tree by its odor and
starts nesting inside the large, hollow acacia thorns. She lays 15-20 eggs to
produce the first generation of workers. As the colony grows, more thorns
become inhabited, and when the colony reaches around 400 individuals, the ants
start to protect the plant.” [5]

Scientists know that the queen ant can smell an Acacia tree.
Think of all the evolution that would have to go into an ant being able to
smell, let alone being able to recognize a particular tree as the one that
would provide a good place to start a nest.

The Acacia tree provides a wonderful place for ants to build
their nests. The ants can drill a hole into the horns of the plant that are
hollow inside and this makes a perfect place for a nest. Since the horns are
fairly small, the ants will make nests in the horns all over the tree.

The Acacia tree actually has special glands on their stems
which secrete a carbohydrate-rich, sweet nectar that is very nutritious for the
ants. If that gland evolved through a slow and gradual process and the nectar
that is secreted then also had to evolve by a slow and gradual process, don’t
you think the ants would find a different source of nutrition instead of
waiting around? Evolutionists have amazing imaginations, but I’d like to see
them point out any actual plant that has ever evolved something like this on
its own in the thousands of years that humans have been watching plants. It’s
never been seen, but still they believe in evolution.

The Acacia tree also produces what are called “Beltian bodies” on the tips of its leaflets.
These Beltian bodies are made of a protein-lipid which doesn’t seem to have any
other use or value except for the ants to feed their larvae. [6] The Beltian
bodies seem to be perfect for that single purpose. Look at the picture below of
Beltian bodies and imagine the evolution that had to take place for the tree to
produce such a “fruit”. Trees live a long time. They would have to produce
seeds, which grow up, and then produce new seeds. How many generations would it
take in a slow and gradual process of tree after tree until the Beltian bodies
were perfected. Remember that the Beltian bodies give no benefit at all to the
tree except to attract the ants by providing the perfect nutrients for their
larvae. Remember that without the ants, the trees mostly die so getting many
generations of trees to evolve implies that the ants were always there.

That’s already too
incredible for evolution. But now let’s take a look at what the ants do for the
tree.

If a plant eating
animal or insect comes along that will harm the Acacia tree, the ants release a
pheromone which is a nasty odor and it sounds the alarm. All of them rush out
to attack. They will bite and sting any intruder very severely, usually driving
them away.

However, the ants
are uniquely selective. If a Praying Mantis or a spider comes along, which actually
can benefit the Acacia by eating insect pests, the ants leave them alone. Now
how could they have ever evolved that type of selectivity? Ants also will not
bother the bees that pollinate the tree.

Another thing that
the ants do for the tree is keep away vines and other plants. The ants will
chew through any vines that come on their tree or its leaves, thus getting rid
of any threat. The ants seem to even know that the tree needs sunlight and will
remove leaves of other trees that are obstructing the sunlight.

"According to Daniel Janzen, livestock can apparently smell the
pheromone and avoid these acacias day and night. Getting stung in the mouth and
tongue is an effective deterrent to browsing on the tender foliage. In addition
to protecting V. conigera (Acacia) from leaf-cutting ants and other unwanted
herbivores, the ants also clear away invasive seedlings around the base of the
tree that might overgrow it and block out vital sunlight." [7]

And here is a very
amazing fact that was discovered recently, the ants actually help prevent
bacteria problems on the leaf surfaces. Scientists have found that it is likely
something on the legs of the ants that yields the antibacterial benefit. Evolutionists
are going to have a problem explaining how something like that evolved.

"Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in
Jena, Germany, have now found that ants also keep harmful leaf pathogens in
check. The presence of ants greatly reduces bacterial abundance on surfaces of
leaves and has a visibly positive effect on plant health...

"Detailed analysis of the bacterial composition on the surfaces of
the leaves suggested that the presence of mutualistic ants changed the
bacterial populations and reduced harmful pathogens.

"How antimicrobial protection is transferred from ants to plant is
still unclear." [8]

Is that convincing
enough that this relationship was designed and not evolved? How about one more
point. Researchers have discovered that the tree secrets some repellent,
probably from its pollen, that keeps the ants away. This maximizes the
reproduction of the seeds of the tree because the ants don’t run over them and
disturb their growth. But the secretion eventually wears off about the time
that the fertilization has already taken place. So now the ants will come around and they will
perform their duty of protecting the leaves and tree again. [9]

No human being
could design something with this chemical and biological sophistication.

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About Me

Welcome to 101 Proofs For God for the "common man" This Blog was inspired by a prayer where I asked God how I could help Him and experienced a deeply lonely heart for His children. Hopefully my inspirations might tweak your thinking about the things all around you in this world.
Each proof should be just short enough for a 1 to 2 minute read.
May God bless you immensely and may you draw closer to Him every day. - Jim Stephens